The Board of Trustees approved a deal to place students in 160 Ross
for the 2020-21 school year and to use the entire apartment complex as affiliated housing for students in the 2021-22 school year.
Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Bobby Woodard told The Plainsman that the contract with 160 Ross will likely be finalized in the coming week.
160 Ross will lease 320 spaces to the University this fall, and Woodard said that as of Friday morning, 257 of those spaces are filled by upperclassmen.
The University is using 160 Ross as affiliated housing so it can get students “out of the Hill,” Woodard said.
The plan is for students to be completely out of the Hill by 2025 or 2026, Woodard said. Construction of new academic buildings will likely take place then and be built where the Hill is currently located, according to Woodard. New dorms are also being planned to account for the tearing down of the Hill.
The cost of living in the off-campus complex will be about the same as living in the Village.
Trustees approved the following rates: $4,780-a-semester cost for a four-bedroom, four-bath apartment and a $5,000-a-semester cost for a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment.
Kevin Hoult, director of university housing and student life, previously told The Plainsman that instead of living in 160 Ross, some upperclassmen students will have two options of living in traditional University dorms: South Donahue and Harper Hall.
South Donahue is able to house 200 students; Harper Hall can house 80 students, according to Hoult.
“We think that this partnership opens the opportunity for residents to have that off-campus living experience … while maintaining those conveniences of campus housing,” Hoult said in an email.
Those “conveniences” include resident assistants, who work in dorms and assist on-campus students. 160 Ross has its own version of RAs called community assistants. The CAs work the front desk, plan community events and serve residents the way RAs do, Hoult said. He added that there are other conveniences they’re implementing.
“We plan to have a Tiger Transit bus perform a direct route to and from the community and campus,” Hoult said. “Additionally, we will offer residents the option of purchasing an on- or off-campus meal plan.”
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Eduardo Medina, senior in journalism, is the editor-in-chief of The Auburn Plainsman.
